Chris Kreider reveals how ‘grateful’ he is to be back on ice.

Chris Kreider felt different Wednesday when he finally rejoined his Rangers teammates on the ice, practicing for the first time since undergoing surgery in early January that removed a part of his rib to treat a blood clot. “Probably faster,” he said with a grin. “That rib was really weighing me down.” The winger had...

Time: 21:49&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp Date: 14.02.2018

“Probably faster,” he said with a grin. “That rib was really weighing me down.”

The winger had plenty of reason to be in a good mood after a challenging month and a half dealing with an injury that has granted him a new perspective.

“It was a ton of fun,” Kreider said. “It’s something I’ve been looking forward to for a long time. … I don’t think I took this for granted ever, but it definitely makes you grateful for everything you have.”

The road to recovery is not over just yet for Kreider, but he took a major step in reaching his goal of playing again before the season is over, as he first told The Post on Tuesday. Thirty-nine days after his rib resection surgery, Kreider wore a red non-contact jersey during the quick practice, though he was one of the last players to leave the ice following some extra work.

“From what I understand, talking to [head athletic trainer Jim Ramsay] and our doc, there’s a lot of room to go here,” Vigneault said. “That was a serious injury he had, so we’re looking at game conditioning and conditioning. I don’t know if we’re talking two weeks or we’re talking a month. But the docs and him will evaluate this on a daily basis and he’ll keep working. Hopefully he can join us here at some point in the future.”

Kreider said he felt good practicing and believes he’s in good shape after having skated lightly by himself in addition to some conditioning in recent weeks. But he also said it’s hard to know how that will translate until he actually plays a game again.

“I gotta push myself a little bit in the next few days and see,” he said.

The toughest part of being sidelined wasn’t the physical recovery, but sitting and watching his teammates play. Kreider began to follow the team like a fan, watching the games every night on television — except for Sunday’s game against Winnipeg, when MSG was experiencing technical difficulties.

“I had to listen to that one on the radio,” he said.

As he watched the Rangers, who enter Thursday’s game against the Islanders 7-12-1 without him, Kreider admitted it was “hard not to be” emotional.

“I don’t like watching,” he said. “Regardless of how things are going, you want to be with the group. Not being around the guys, it’s hard.”

The Boston College product tried to be around the team as much as he could in the past month, but with the Rangers taking a few long road trips, it wasn’t always easy.

“They’ve done a really good job of keeping me in the loop, which speaks volumes [about] the guys we have in the room and what kind of friends and teammates they are,” Kreider said.

They were just as happy to have him back on the ice.

“It’s nice to see Kreids, he’s a happy kid,” center Kevin Hayes said. “We need some life around here, so I think he’ll help out the team a ton. Everyone knows what he brings to the table.”